All four of the top seeds in women’s doubles made it to the semifinals without a hitch, but who is headed to the Championship Sunday is a different story.

#1 Anna Bright/Jackie Kawamoto went up 8-4 against #3 Tyra Black/Jorja Johnson to start the match, but Black/Johnson worked their way back, logging seven straight points to take game one. They continued their run into game two, going up 3-0 to start.

Bright and Kawamoto switched gears in response, moving Jackie over to the left side where she is more comfortable playing, which helped them go on a run and make their score 5-3 in game two.

5, however, was where Bright and Kawamoto would stay, as Black and Johnson came roaring back to take game two and the match: 11-8, 11-5.

“I have great chemistry with Jorja,” Black enthused after the match. “She’s such an amazing partner, she also won best partner of the year, best teammate [in the 2024 Pickleball.com Endseason Awards], which is so true.”

Both teams struggled to land consistent thirds throughout the match, leading to the majority of points being played out with one team up at the kitchen line while the other stayed back defending at the baseline. This may in part have been due to the chilly conditions, which despite Florida’s reputation as the sunshine state, hovered around 55 degrees.

 

 

 

 

 

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Daytona marked Bright and Kawamoto’s first time pairing up together as a partnership, while Black and Johnson, conversely, have logged a hefty number of events together as a team – most notably as teammates on their MLP team, the Dallas Flash.

In the post-match interview, commentator Dave Fleming, asked Black about her incredible defense throughout the match.

“That’s actually how I played tennis, so that’s kind of what I brought into pickleball," said Black. "Everyone’s like, ‘You can’t play the same way you did in tennis,’ but a lot of the shots and everything really translated over for me.”

The win sends Johnson to not just one, but two finals on Championship Sunday, since she also battled her way through the bracket in mixed doubles alongside her new partner, Hayden Patriquin.